#THAIWorldSBK: Manufacturers profiles from Thailand

There have been two podiums for Aprilia in Buriram, back in 2015. Leon Haslam secured two of these – two second positions from 2nd on the grid, losing out only to Jonathan Rea. Last year the Italian factory finished both races but only with one bike: Savadori was 13th in Race 1 and Laverty 15th in Race 2. Aprilia have always scored points here, apart from the two retirements of last year, meaning they have had 10 points finishes out of 12 starts.

The best result for BMW at Buriram is a 5th place, scored by Markus Reiterberger in Race 1, 2016 and by Jordi Torres in Race 2, last year.

This is the only track on the current calendar where Ducati haven’t won, despite winning around 41 tracks throughout history. Their best result here was a 2nd place from Chaz Davies last year. Ducati have scored a total of three podium finishes here (Davies 3rd in Race 2, 2016 and 2nd last year in Race 1; Melandri 3rd in Race 2 last year).

The best weekend for Honda in Buriram was the 2016 one: Michael van der Mark was able to secure pole (the last one for Honda to date), as well as securing a podium finish with 3rd in Race 1. The Dutchman was also able to finish 4th in Race 2. Last year their best results were recorded by the late Nicky Hayden: 9th in Race 1 and 7th in Race 2. Honda have won around 30 different tracks in its history: Buriram is one of the 10 tracks where they climbed on the podium but have yet to win.

Kawasaki have racked up all the wins in Buriram: 6 out of 6. This is one of their best tracks, and they won more around only three other tracks: Misano (8 times), Assen (8) and Laguna Seca (7); three historical circuits which made their debut appearance in the WorldSBK calendar respectively in 1991, 1992 and 1995. Kawasaki’s podium tally here is more than the sum of their rivals, they have secured 11 podiums compared to the 7 of Ducati (3), Aprilia (2), Suzuki (1) and Honda (1) combined. There has been only one occasion where the fastest race lap in Buriram wasn’t set by a Kawasaki rider: that was last year in Race 2 (Marco Melandri, Ducati).

Yamaha recorded their best results around Buriram last year, as they secured a 4th with Lowes in Race 2 and a 5th in Race 1 with van der Mark. These results are an improvement from a double 6th recorded two years ago, with Lowes and Guintoli respectively.

MV Agusta were able to secure points in half of their races here, with Leon Camier as their rider. The Brit was took two 11th position finishes in 2016 and 8th in Race 1 last year.

Fonte: WorldSBK.com.